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Prep Now, Feast Later (Thanksgiving Tips)
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Hi Reader, True story: one year, I cooked Thanksgiving like I was auditioning for Survivor: Roxbury Edition. I started at dawn, juggling pies, stuffing, potatoes, sides, and a turkey the size of a mini-fridge. By the time dessert rolled around, I was slumped in my chair, fork dangling midair, too tired to taste the very pies I'd threatened to leave The One over if he even so much as touched them. After our guests left, I crawled, and I do mean crawl, to bed, leaving the kitchen looking not unlike something out of a scene from The Walking Dead. When The One protested vociferously, I invoked the "I Cook, You Clean" mantra we'd been spouting since 1993. In truth, the kitchen was such a disaster, a reasonable person would've give him a pass on cleaning all the way to Valentine's Day. Alas, I am not a reasonable person. Make-Ahead Mastery for Thanksgiving
WHAT'S INSIDE...
Food Processor Pie CrustThis buttery pie crust comes together easily in your food processor and is flaky and tender. It's perfect for pies that require a par-baked crust.☞ Try this recipePecan Pie CobblerSkip fussing with pie crust this Thanksgiving and make this easy pecan pie cobbler, which delivers all of the rich caramel and nutty pecan flavors of the classic pie with a fraction of the effort.☞ Try this recipe☞ Even MORE make-ahead ideas, tips, FAQs, and playlists! Caramel Apple PieThis caramel apple pie takes classic apple pie to the next level. For this beloved autumn dessert, warmly spiced apples are embraced in a nutty whole wheat pie crust and baked until golden. A lacquer of sweet caramel to finish takes this pie over the top.☞ Try this recipeCranberry Pistachio Cookies⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 from 10 votes These festive cookies are adorned with sweet-tart dried cranberries and crunchy pistachios. They're the perfect addition to your holiday cookie collection.☞ Try this recipe☞ Even MORE make-ahead ideas, tips, FAQs, and playlists! Chocolate Espresso Shortbread CookiesThese slice-and-bake chocolate espresso shortbread cookies are studded with bits of semi-sweet chocolate and laced with espresso to create a slightly bitter, oh-so-chocolatey cookie.☞ Try this recipeScottish ShortbreadThis traditional Scottish shortbread is made with butter, flour, granulated and powdered sugar, and salt to create a perfectly crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth biscuit.☞ Try this recipeRoasted Garlic Mashed PotatoesThese roasted garlic mashed potatoes are like mashed potatoes gone to finishing school with sour cream, Parmesan, and sweetly caramelized onions suffused with red wine. Quite possibly the best mashed potatoes we've ever had.☞ Try this recipe |
Leite's Culinaria
Why, hello! Leite's Culinaria is the James Beard Award-winning site that helps home cooks and bakers put dinner on the table and laughs in the kitchen. Hungry for more? Join more than 30,000 food lovers and subscribe.
Hi Reader, In my family, Thanksgiving didn’t begin with the turkey. Oh, no. It began the moment the doorbell rang, and my relatives descended like a biblical plague of locusts—if locusts wore polyester and carried rosaries. Within minutes, coats were flung on my grandmother's bed, the TV was blasting the Macy’s parade, and to the uninitiated and our WASP neighbors, we sounded for all the world as if we were milliseconds away from a knife fight. But that's how we Portuguese talk to each...
Hi Reader, Before November turned to Thanksgiving, the month was always about dinners that stuck to your ribs and fogged the kitchen windows until you could finger-paint on them. My mother had an uncanny way of knowing just when the chill in the air crossed from “brisk” to “bone-deep.” That’s when she’d pull out the stockpot. Suddenly, a chicken became three meals, beans lost their anonymity in a garlicky stew, and cabbage was transformed into something that could make you forget it was,...
Hi Reader, In my family, turkey wasn't a thing for Thanksgiving. My dad, for whatever reason, didn't like it. Instead, we had capons, which I happily ate until he told me they were "emasculated chickens." After that, I was Team Side Dishes. My grandmother’s dressing, my mother’s mashed potatoes, my godmother's French stuffing, the obligatory green beans that no one touched but everyone felt guilty omitting. You wanna do WHAT to me? Of course, back then, it was chaos. My mother swore she had...